Besides a school bus, what vehicles can carry 7 passengers?
Can all mini vans carry 7, or just some? Which ones?
How close together do you want to be?
Best are the Suburban type vehicles, lousy mileage, lots of room. The mini-vans will do it, but its close quarters in the third seat. If mileage isn’t a problem, the full size vans work too.
5 Kids, 2 Adults
My step daughter is having her thrid baby. Her husband has 2 form previous marriage. I am thinking about helping them get something larger than their honda.
Alternatives
If you don’t mind going used and you have (as above) some short people in the bunch, the Sable/Taurus station wagons that were discontinued as of 2007 model year often had a third seat in back that could hold two. No room left for gear after that though, so if you are thinking 7 people plus stuff you prbably have to go to a gas-guzzler.
Only non-minivan possibles I can think of, but I don’t know if there are 7 seats, are the Ford Edge and the Saturn Vue (latter has a hybrid version as of 2006). Again, I don’t recall if there are 7 seats.
In the old days…
We could toss five kids in the bed of a pick-up truck…
Nope
Kim lives in the land of fruits and nuts. they can’t even look at kids crossed eyed there. NO chance of a pick up there…
Nissan Pathfinder
2 in the front, 3 in the middle, 2 in the back…
Plenty of power to pull a trailer, etc, decent factory racks to work with for hauling boats, fairly decent gas mileage for an SUV…16 city, 23 highway.
I’ve got a Frontier Crew-cab P/U which is first cousin to a Pathfinder…same frame, same engine, etc. No complaints.
Olds Custom Cruiser
My 74 Olds Custom Cruiser holds 9. Pretty safe too.
Extended Minivans
I used to have an extended Aerostar that would hold 7 adults with room for gear behind the rear seat. Maybe the Grand Caravan would do the same?
The Honda and Toyota minivans will seat 7
The new Mazda RX9 is supposed to seat 7.
The third seat in the Taurus wagon is for two smallish kids or one flexible adult.
Tommy
No, Not In Kalifornia
Can’t put kids in the pickup bed, even with a camper shell.
If It Were For Me
If this were for me, I would definitely consider an vintage station wagon.
I always wanted a Buick Roadmaster station wagon, but these kids can’t afford the upkeep, or gas, for something like that, and they don’t have extra vehicles to use when its in the shop.
either way
it’s going to be a gas guzzler.
the newer (02+) bodystyle explorers came with an optional 3rd seat.
vast majority of minivans will seat 7. Do yourself a favor and don’t buy GM products new( lose 60-70 percent of their value in first 3 years) and don’t buy Chrysler/Dodge products at all.
Suzuki XL-7?
Suv, must be very small kids to fit in the way-back (That’s what we called the back of our wationstagon when I was a kid).
Most mini-vans can carry seven, but I know a few are only 6. Kia Sedona comes to mind.
If they like Honda (I do, and can appreciate that), I think the Pilot has an optional third seat that would make it a 7 passenger, as well as the Odyssey (sp?).
Good luck.
The best minivan out there, at least
from when I looked last year, is Honda’s, but it ain’t cheap. Don’t care for the steering in the Toyota.
Roadmaster wagon, nice choice.
Theres about 5 local paddlers with Chevy Astro or GMC Safari vans. I’ve taken some multi day trips in them. They seem to be a great size, big and small all at the same time. Gas mileage is said to be around 17 city. 4.3 lter 6cyl is gutsy and dependable. Long roof line for a multitude of roof rack configurations.
I have become very interested in the Astro/Safari vans as of late.
I may get an AWD, lift it 5", put a camper kit inside, have a pop top installed, and put nerf bars all around (to ease boat loading). Still researching, but I think it could be the ultimate shuttle rig/weekender.
While they are not what you are looking for, I’m looking at older Toyato vans, also, for a shuttle rig. As cool as they are, though, they just may be too old.
http://astrosafarivans.com/
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/19634404/page/3.cfm
http://www.yotavans.org/
Ford Freestyle
Mine comfortably carries two in the front, 3 in the middle seat, and two in the third row of seats.
1991 to 96 Buick Roadmaster wagon
Mine seat 8 and get 15mpg in the city and 25 on the hwy, 22 pulling a trailer of boats on the hwy.
Seem like any garage can fix these things and the parts are available and inexpensive. You can find a lot of them with less than 120K miles on them because older folks don’t drive that much.
the roof rack on them is the only thing that is not ideal, but it can be replaced or modified easily.
Mine is so much nice and easier to keep up than my Olds custom Cruiser wagon was. It is an amazing car that has not been equaled by todays SUV’s.
Will be available hydrid
The Ford Freestyle, for later this year I believe. May be a chore finding one at first though.
Taurus/Sables suck
Mine dropped dead with 39K on it. Maybe get a limo. Sometimes funeral homes sell off their limos and hearses.
Had better luck w/ours
The '94 Taurus wagon only died at about 134000 miles, when the oil pump lifter thing went but it wasn’t the car’s fault. Had been sitting in subzero temps for a few days straight and I was probably too cavalier about getting it going. No big deal - it was to be driven for donation so it had to be towed instead.
The '97 Sable wagon would have made it to its normal 120000 miles or so, had I not failed to notice the concrete pillar of a big light in a parking lot when I was looking left for something. The '03 Sable wagon is still solidly under 100,000 miles and running fine.
The '03 will probably go to Maine this summer - we recently sussed out that the Yakima towers and rails can actually support more weight on the Sable wagon than in the '07 Outback we got, and we think we want to take both the 2 expedition boats and the Innazones.